The state's Revenue and Forest Department has instructed the District Collector of Thane to complete the necessary formalities for granting advance possession of a land parcel in Dongri village (survey number 19) near Uttan that has been earmarked for the construction of a car shed for the Metro-9 (Dahisar to Bhayandar) rail route by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
The desk officer from the revenue department, Bhaskar Patil, has empowered the district collector to transfer the government-owned land parcel on an "as is, where is" basis, while adhering to the provisions framed under the Maharashtra Land Revenue (Disposal of Government Lands) Rules, 1971. The car shed was initially proposed to be constructed in Rai village in Bhayandar.
Final process to be completed next month
Confirming the developments, Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik, who raised the issue during the winter session of the State Legislature Assembly in Nagpur, expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister for setting the ball rolling for the transfer of land. He further stated that while advance possession would be granted on record in a few days, the final process would be completed next month, following which tenders would be floated to construct the facility.
The construction of the car shed in Rai village would have caused irreparable damage to the traditional farming community and villagers, leading to the loss of livelihood. More than 300 farmers would’ve been affected in the process of the proposed car depot, and around 428 structures faced demolition for coming in the way of the earlier alignment. The office of the joint director of town planning (Konkan Bhawan) had also received 1,273 objections from people who opposed the earlier car shed reservation earmarked in the draft development plan.
Metro-9 is a 13.581 km route, including a 1.389 km long elevated corridor, and is an extension of Metro 7 (Andheri East to Dahisar East). However, the further extension from Bhayandar to Uttan will put an additional burden of more than Rs4,000 crore on the state exchequer.
